Commersonia bartramia

Which family do you think the above specimen is belonging to? Four of us had different guesses after meeting this strange and unfamiliar tree which include Moraceae, Sterculiaceae, Elaeocarpaceae and Euphorbiaceae. The answer is Sterculiaceae or Tiliaceae depending on taxonomic treatment. Meeting unfamiliar species is always funny and exciting in the field which is like an assessment to your identification, integration, logical thinking and association skills.

Only one species under the genus Commersonia, Commersonia bartramia, is distributed in China which is mainly distributed in southern parts of China including Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Yunnan. It flowers in winter but the exact date depends on regions and altitude. It has considerable economic uses where bark and fiber are used for weaving.

Leopard, Panthera pardus

Leopard (Panthera pardus) is belonging to the "Big Cats" genus, Panthera, which contains four members including Lion, Tiger, Jaguar and Leopard. Leopard is the smallest member within the genus. It has a broad distribution which ranged from most of sub-Saharan Africa, Arabian Peninsula, India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. It has a status of Near-threatened according to the IUCN Red List (ver. 2009.1) with decreasing population trend.

These photographs were taken in Masai Mara National Park, Kenya. This individual completely ignored the vehicles and humans surrounding it and was trying to hunt. It even made use of the vehicles to hide itself from the prey. It is quite rare to find Leopards during the daytime according to the guides as they are mainly active at night and resting on trees during the daytime.

Unidentified Eunoymus

An Euonymus species found on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, is recently recognized not recorded before. It is quite surprised that there is still unidentified/unrecorded woody species in Hong Kong as they seem not to be easily overlooked in the previous extensive surveys conducted by various parties, including AFCD, KFBG and HKU etc. Even though specimens of flowers and fruits have been collected, the identity of this species is still unsolved, which means, it is probably a new species in Guangdong, or even China. Identification work is supposed to be done by IBSC, South China Institute of Botany.

This Euonymus species is highly restricted to a small area in Hong Kong, which is thought to be a very rare species in Hong Kong. It looks like another commoner Euonymus, E. laxiflorus, when flower or fruit is not observed. You might find its flowering season in early June where its fruits mature in December.

Lantau Island

Neolucanus sp.

Coleoptera, largely known as beetles, is the largest member amongst all insects in the world. There are about 350,000 described species within the family in the world which represents more than 40% of all insects and nearly 30% of all animal species. However, the number of the described insects is still thought to be highly underestimated.

The photographed Neolucanus sp. was found at high elevation in Hong Kong. I've seen a number of this species appearing mainly around late May to Mid July these two years.

Euphoria atoto

Genus Euphorbia L. (Euphorbiaceae)
Euphorbia is the type genus of Euphorbiaceae while all species have milky juice. All succulent Euphorbia spp. contains poisonous sap in which people maybe poisoned by even touching the plant. Some of the poison are extremely dangerous. Euphorbia is a huge genus having around 2,000 species dispersed over nearly the whole world. Over 80 could be found in China including 11 in Hong Kong.

Euphorbia atoto inhabits sandy seashore area giving its common name Littoral Euphorbia. It is a restricted species in Hong Kong but quite widespread in South and South-east Asia even to Australia. Flowers are tiny and unisexual which is quite hard to see clearly in the field.

Trip to Northeastern Guangxi

Have been to Guilin (桂林) and Longji (龍脊) from late April till early May. A peaceful place to stay and visit while the scenaries are spectacular. It is said that the rice terraces in Longji would be fully flooded at the end of May giving that the most spectacular scene each year. It's really worthy to visit there more than one time to see the different scenes in different times of a year.

I'd also spent one and a half day to visit Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge (程陽風雨橋) which is quite far away from Guilin (about 100 km away from Guilin). It is actually part of the buildings by Dong Minority in Guangxi. The buildings in that village all looks traditional as all of them are made by wood. People are nice and the food are great. It's worthy to go if you are interested in these cultural heritage.

I walked from Yang Ti (楊堤) to Xing Ping (興坪) in order to have a new experience to visit Li River (漓江) apart from joining the boat trip. Not much good view could be seen along the way but you can get closer look on the local villages and farmlands. The walk is not short which spends you about 6 hours to finish.

Styrax faberi (白花龍) was commonly seen in the Longji area.

Weigela japonica var. sinica (半邊月) was abundant in the Longji area. It's quite unexpected that it is belonging to the family Caprifoliaceae (忍冬科) while I originally thought it is something inside Myrtaceae (桃金娘科).

Several individuals of Rhododendron stamenium (長蕊杜鵑) was seen in the Longji area. It does look like Rhododendron moulmainense (羊角杜鵑) which is native to Hong Kong but the flowers of the former are smaller and the stamens are longer. They belong to the same subgenus.

Polygonatum cyrtonema (多花黃精) was also seen in the Longji area.

I enjoyed photographing Lyonia ovalifolia var. lanceolata (狹葉南燭) very much as Lyonia is very rare in Hong Kong and the flowers are so delicate.

Liquidambar formosana (楓香) could be commonly found in Guilin and Longji.

Arisaema erubescens (一把傘天南星) is very common in Longji area while it is so localized in Hong Kong. Montane habitat might be not enough for it to grow in Hong Kong.

Actinidia chrysantha (金花獼猴桃) could be found in both Guangdong and Guangxi provinces.